Seedlings: Sources of Income and Environmental protection

Near the Omo River, ten people gather every day at a seedling nursery site in Ratte Borkonoch Kebele of Dassenech Woreda. Some prepare seedbeds while others fill containers with soil, water young seedlings, or carefully transfer sprouts by hand. The work is repetitive and physically demanding, but for members of the Kalegn Nursery Group, it represents something larger: an effort to build more reliable livelihoods in a place where livelihoods are often uncertain.

Communities in Dassenech Woreda live with the pressures of recurring drought, shrinking access to pasture and water, and cycles of conflict linked to cattle raids and competition over resources. For many families, farming, herding, and daily labor income no longer provide dependable ways to sustain a household throughout the year.

Yet people continue to adapt, experiment, and search for opportunities that can withstand difficult seasons. Toward the end of 2025, ten community members, six of them women, came together to form the Kalegn Seedling Nursery Group, aiming to generate income through the production and sale of seedlings.

Before joining the group, some of the group members cultivated small plots of maize, sorghum, or moong bean, while others depended on a few animals. But across the group, livelihoods remained fragile and highly vulnerable to drought and market fluctuations.

For Bereket, a father of three, earning enough to support his family had long been a struggle. Before joining the nursery group, he survived through daily labour work that was irregular and rarely enough to support his family consistently.

“Most days, I worked only when opportunities came,” he recalls. “I did not have a stable income.”

The Kalegn Nursery Group offered something different: a collective enterprise built around steady effort, shared responsibility, and long-term planning.

With support from DCA through the SPREAD project, the group received practical assistance including shade materials, seeds, farming tools, a water tanker, and a storage room. Members also participated in hands-on training covering seedbed preparation, soil preparation, container filling, transplanting, watering, and nursery management. The support was designed not simply to provide inputs, but to strengthen skills and help the group establish a business that could continue growing over time.

Today, the nursery produces a variety of seedlings including moringa, mango, neem, papaya, orange, and luciana trees. Demand comes from local community members, government offices, and organizations involved in agriculture and environmental rehabilitation, as many of the seedlings are purchased for land restoration efforts in degraded areas, linking the group’s business directly to wider environmental rehabilitation work in the area.

For Bereket, the significance of the nursery goes beyond immediate earnings. It has opened up the possibility of building assets over time, rather than relying only on short-term survival. “Ultimately, the dream is to become the best seedling providers in Dassenech Woreda,” he says. Personally, Bereket hopes that future dividends will allow him to purchase livestock of his own and strengthen his family’s long-term security.

For Gnemun Echayo, the group leader, the nursery reflects the value of collective effort in a context where traditional livelihoods alone have become increasingly unreliable.

Before joining the initiative, Gnemun farmed communal land shared with relatives and kept a small number of goats. Like many households in the area, his family depended on a combination of activities that rarely provided enough stability. The nursery has added a new source of income, while also creating work that members feel a strong sense of ownership over.

“We love doing this,” he says.

Nursery production requires patience: some seedlings, such as moringa, are ready within 45 days, while mango seedlings can take up to 3 months before they are sold. This production cycle demands planning, consistency, and shared commitment, qualities members say have strengthened both their business and their confidence in what they can achieve together.

Our hard work has started to pay off. I am happy.

Gnemun, the group leader of the Kalegn Nursery Group

So far, the group has sold 400 seedlings at 80 Birr each, generating 32,000 ETB in income. They plan to reinvest their earnings to expand the business, convinced that seedling production holds strong potential for further growth. The group is already in discussions with local authorities about securing additional land for expansion.

The group’s name, Kalegn, meaning “Flower” in the Dassenech language, reflects how members see the initiative: something that grows gradually through care, cooperation, and persistence.

“We named it Flower to symbolize growth,” says Gnemun, the group leader.

For Bangas Negazhe, the group’s treasurer and a mother of three, joining the nursery also marked a shift in her role within both her household and community.

“It is not common for women to generate income,” she explains. Before joining Kalegn, she and her family entirely depended on her husband’s goat rearing activities for their household needs and day-to-day expenses.

Through the nursery, she has begun taking an active role in an income generating business, alongside other women in the group who are participating not only in the daily production work but also in decision-making and financial management.

In a context where income opportunities for women are often limited, this shift goes beyond additional earnings. It introduces a space where economic participation is gradually reshaping everyday roles, expectations, and confidence in what women can contribute to household resilience over time.

“When we start to receive profit dividends, I hope to invest in livestock and further strengthen my family,” Bangas says.

Integrating Income Generation and Environmental Restoration

The nursery demonstrates a climate-resilient model that links income generation with environmental restoration. By producing seedlings that are both sold for income and used in land rehabilitation, the group sits at the intersection of livelihoods and ecosystem recovery.

As part of efforts to strengthen cross-border communities in sustainable natural resource management, the project supports community-led land use planning and the rehabilitation of degraded rangelands. At the same time, it promotes training and participation in climate smart, market-oriented income-generating activities to diversify livelihoods for marginalized groups.

The Kalegn Nursery Group brings these two objectives together in practice, turning seedling production into both a livelihood activity and a contribution to land restoration.

For Gnemun, the connection is visible in the work itself. “These seedlings will protect our land when they grow into big trees,” he says.

In Ratte Borkonoch, where drought and environmental degradation continue to shape daily life, the nursery has become part of a broader effort to restore landscapes while creating income opportunities.

Every morning, the group returns to the nursery site to continue the work. Like the seedlings they tend, the members of Kalegn are investing in growth that is gradual, rooted, and intended to last.